I have always LOVED tacos, but from traveling a ton to Texas and California and even Mexico once or twice, I am well aware of what makes a good taco. Living in Western New York for the past 30+ years meant getting the very best tacos I could on the road and when I was really craving them at home, just making them myself. I have made soo many different tacos, some vegan, like these, some with slow cooked meat from our farmer, some loaded just with grilled veggies, and so on. I am not saying my homemade tacos are THE very best and most authentic, but for the most part they were better than any I could get in Buffalo. (Though Lloyds Taco Truck were damn delicious and the best in WNY outside of my kitchen, for sure!)

I find the key to authentic tacos (or at least for my taste) is skipping on the loads of cheese and chopped iceberg lettuce like most Americans love. You want good quality ingredients like slow cooked beans or a meat, spiced to perfection. Add some fresh cilantro, a quick homemade pico de gallo or other salsa and add a few other simple but yummy things like quick pickled red onions, (diced onions or green onions are always great to) or maybe a simple chipotle cream. Less is more in a lot of ways.

OK so now I am living in Southern California, the land of amazing tacos. Why did I make tacos at home, you ask? Almost every week for Taco Tuesday we have tried a different place out, since you can get amazing prices/deals at most places. Last week, we didn’t wanna go out and we still wanted tacos, so this was the next best thing.

These tacos feature super flavorful slow-cooked black beans, that do their thing ALL day in the crock pot. Load it up in the morning before work and by dinner time it’s all ready for you. You can make the pickled onions and chipotle cream the day before, the morning of when you are loading up the crock pot or just a couple of hours before you serve dinner. I highly suggest making your own corn tortillas whenever possible, they are so simple to make and once you do, you will realize what you have been missing. I was forced to skip on it this time as I wasn’t able to find non-GMO masa harina around here, so I just bought some pre-made organic non-GMO corn tortillas that were very good and very fresh.

**BONUS ADDITIONAL MEALS: The great thing about this recipe is that it makes a decent amount of black beans and other goodies. So make tacos for 4 – 6, or more – or make tacos for 2 one night, then make delicious black bean and brown rice bowls another night. Instead of tortillas start with brown rice in a large bowl, top with the slow cooked black beans, add any other veggies or toppings, top with the pickled red onions and chipotle cream sauce and you have another deliciously incredible meal.

Add all of the ingredients to the crock pot. If you aren’t using canned tomatoes, add another 1-2 cups of water. You want to make sure there is enough liquid so the beans don’t scorch or burn.

Stir well. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Salt to taste and the end.

*If you forgot or didn’t leave time to soak the beans overnight, no problem. Put them in a large pot, and cover completely with water. Bring to a rapid boil for 10 minutes, then turn off stove and cover pot. Let your beans sit for 1 hour, then drain water and put beans into crockpot)

Quick Pickled Red Onions (and Jalapeños)These simple pickled onions can be made ahead, it will keep for 2 weeks.

Whisk first 3 ingredients and 1 cup water in a small bowl until sugar and salt dissolve. Place onion and jalapeños in a jar, pour the vinegar mixture over. Let sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour and up to 8 hours. Cover and chill. Drain onions before using or just pull right out of the jar and add them to your tacos.

Vegan Chipotle CreamThis sauce is great on these tacos, but also delicious in place of mayo or other spreads on sandwiches or wraps.

1/2 cup organic raw cashews (soaked for at least an hour), drained then rinsed well
1/4 cup water (you may need more)
2-3 chipotles (the canned kind in adobo sauce)
1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
1 large clove garlic
squeeze or two of fresh lime
salt, to taste

Add all of the ingredients to your blender. Start on a low speed. You may find you need to add more water to get it moving and to reach your desired consistency. Gradually increase the speed of the blender until the desired creaminess is reached. If you add to much water and it’s too thin, just add a couple more cashews. Pour into a jar, cover and place in the fridge.

Assembling Your Tacos – All The Add-Ons
These are the other ingredients you will need:

These look amazing, I saw you post them on instagram and I couldn’t wait to see the recipe!! I honestly didn’t think for a long time that I could go fully vegan all the time, because I didn’t think I could live without cheese. Especially with things like this. But I stopped eating cheese for a couple of weeks and my cravings for it disappeared and I realized how totally unnecessary it is for food to be completely satisfyingly delicious. I especially can’t wait to try this chipotle cream, it looks incredible.

Thanks Alissa. Yeh I really thought I could never be without cheese, I put it on so much. It is amazing how many things it is on where it really isn’t needed and it sometimes even over powers (either in flavor or texture) the amazing flavors of everything else. I haven’t really missed it much at all.

Amazing recipes Beth! I am TOTALLY making the pickled onions and the chipotle cream. I always have cashew pulp on hand! And we love chipotle anything. I’m coming to visit you on a Tuesday I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t have a crock pot! Could I slow cook the beans in a soup pot or something? Thanks!

Second, I nearly fell off my chair with those onions. You see, I grew up on pickled red onions. I lived with my grandparents for many years and spent a great deal of time in the kitchen with my Gramie. And pickled red onions was one of the MANY things she pickled. I can tell you that they are incredibly sweet and I would to eat them like candy as a child (no joke). I make them once in a while and love them on sandwiches. I thought about sharing a recipe now and then, but never got around to it. I love your addition of jalapenos. Your recipe looks amazing. Just seeing those onions in there pickling in that red wine elicited a wave of happiness and joyful memories!

Hey Barb bummer to hear that. How old are your beans? That could have something to do with it. Also – slow cookers aren’t all created equally, sadly. It could just be that your slow cooker isn’t as strong as mine is. I have seen many varying times on recipes for slow cooking black beans. If you wish to eat them now and don’t want to keep them in a crock pot, I would suggest adding them to a pot on the stove and cooking them over high heat until they are soft. The tomatoes would have nothing to do with the beans not getting soft, just not enough cook time or the beans are too old and therefore stale. Sorry again they didn’t work for you.

okay going to give this a try, it looks amazing!! have a dumb question, what is the best way to warm the corn tortillas? mine always get chewy if i quick warm in a pan on the stove. is there a better way to keep them soft so they are warm but wont fall apart as soon as i pick it up to eat it? thanks so much for the assist, and the recipe!!

Suzi, I usually heat mine in a un-oiled nonstick pan. The key is to not heat them up too fast but to make sure that they are in fact heated up thoroughly it is when they aren’t heated that I notice they are super fragile and breakable. I go with a medium heat and give them enough time, making sure they aren’t going to break. We made these sunday and this time I actually heated them up on the grill, that worked great since I could heat up 8 at once instead of one at a time. I have noticed some corn tortillas are much more susceptible to breaking than others. I don’t know why. I used to wrap them in damp paper towels and microwave them, but 1) I prefer not to use the microwave any more and 2) that seemed to yield much more crumbly tortillas. Hope that helps.

Hi Beth-
Just found this on your site and really want it bad!! I’m very sensitive to all nuts except almonds and peanuts all others make me extremely sick. Can this Chipotle cream be made with almonds.
Love all your recipes especially the coconut sweet potato curry is my favorite .
Thanks so much

This recipe is AMAZING!! The flavor combinations and easy execution is a win. We have added a cabbage slaw as a crunchy/tang to the sweet, smoky, spice of the chipotle. We are on the hunt for flavorful recipes on our new gluten/dairy free life and recipes like this make the loss of a diet change absolutely painless. Thank you for posting this for folks like us to find

Hi there, I'm Beth! Thanks for visiting Tasty Yummies. I am both a yoga-instructor and a graphic designer/illustrator by trade, living in Southern California. I've been gluten-free for over 10 years, I avoid processed foods and I am a "conscientious omnivore" that eats a mostly plant-based diet. You can read a little bit more about me, here.

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